The Wise Dawn Hunter

She was oblivious to the passage of time. Her body was paralysed, except her fingers which were intertwined through her curly, ice, blonde hair. Her arm rested on the window sill. Her piercing blue eyes began to water as the morning rays penetrated through them, forcing her to blink, and snap out of her daydream. When she finally realised the warmth of the sun, she closed her eyes, tilted her head back and smiled as the sun light coated her cold, slim body she'd suffered all winter. Her fair skin glowed and she released a satisfied sigh because it seemed that spring had crept up early.

Laina yawned, stretched her arms and legs and then blinked erratically for a few seconds, after she realised she'd been staring into the sun for God only knows how long. She rubbed her eyes, stood up, looked out the huge white framed, farmhouse style window once more and saw out in the distance, a barn owl situated on a post on the borderline of her parents property looking directly at her. She thought it was a little strange that an owl would be out during the daytime like this although it as still early but never gave it a second thought.

Laina made her way down the stairs to the kitchen to carry out her normal morning routine. First up was breakfast. Two sunny side up eggs, a piece of whole meal toast and a rasher of bacon on the side. A tall glass of orange juice sat in front and slightly to the right of the plate, with a knife and fork on either side to create that picture perfect magazine cover breakfast. As she broke the eggs, the yolk oozed out onto the food, which was very satisfying.

After breakfast, Laina carried out her skincare routine, cleaned her teeth then smiled brightly at the mirror. She knew that she didn't have utmost perfect teeth but they definitely had a white-ish sheen to them. Visiting the dentist every six months or so had really payed off over the years. She walked back into her room where she sat at her Fleur dressing table which was handmade from intricately carved mango wood with two simple draws and a detached matching mirror which hung on the wall directly above. The light grey/brown colour complemented the grey/blue colour of her walls. The theme of her room was country inspired, designed with pastel blues, greys, purples and pinks. It had a mature yet girly feel to it. This matched her personality. Mature Girly.

Her curly hair was a rat's nest. She hated it as it was so difficult to maintain. She began to brush it, starting from the tips and gradually working her way up to the roots until she could run the brush right through to the ends without any knots. Staring into the mirror she could see her hair becoming a huge, long, frizzy mess which reached the middle part of her back. She opened the left drawer, which contained all of her hair styling tools and pulled out the straightener. On the floor to her right, in a white weaved, open basket, contained all of her hair products. She grabbed the hair protectant and sat it on the dresser ready to use. Whilst she waited for the straightener to heat up, she opened the left side drawer, which contained other hair products such as hair ties, pins, combs, ribbons and other hair accessories but her hands went to the butterfly clamps to section off her hair.

Grabbing a small section of hair, she sprayed the heat protectant along the hair and slowly ran the straightener through it and then continued through all the sections until her hair was completely straight, silky and smooth. She loved the that feeling. Looking into the mirror, she ran her long, slender fingers through her hair, which now reached her lower back. She gathered her hair and pulled it back into a high pony tail. After that she filled her brows with a light brown eyeshadow. This was a necessity to her look because without it, her brows were barely visible. The same shadow was dusted lightly over her eyes, which brought out the rich hue of them. Finishing her look with a few coats of mascara and a lip balm, she completed her look. She had beautiful skin so…why cover it up? Well, at least it wasn't necessary for today. Before she left the dresser, through the mirror's reflection, she noticed a blurred shape move across the window behind her. It gave a her a slight shock but she made out that it was the barn owl. She walked over to the window to see the owl sitting on the roof above her. Again, it was looking at her. It didn't seem scared at all. "What does it want? Why is it awake and so friendly?" Laina thought.

SNAP! A sharp, yet cold, piercing sound echoed through the house. Laina new the sound very well. It was a mouse trap. Laina didn't have a big mouse problem but as she lived on the farm, those sneaky little critters would get in and chew the furniture. Laina looked at a few traps that were placed around the house until she came across the one near the back door. She picked it up and released the deceased rodent from the trap and took it outside to put in the bin. As the headed over to the bin, the barn owl showed up again, this time on the bin lid as if to stop Laina from putting it in there. Laina stopped and stared at the wise creature of the night.

Suddenly, the barn owl launched itself at Laina, causing her to duck and her were arms flailing around to protect herself from the bird of prey. It landed back on the bin again. Remaining silient, the owl's eyes locked onto the mouse and at that moment, Laina realised the mouse is what it wanted. Laina, threw the mouse on the ground a few feet infront of her and to her surprise, the owl jumped down, clenched onto the mouse by its feet and flew away to a nearby gumtree. Laina couldn't believe her eyes as she saw that bird start to tear apart the mouse. "Maybe, the owl was trying to catch the mouse but it found shelter in the house". One more glance over her shoulder, Laina saw the owl looking at her before it continued to devour its meal, almost as if to say thank you.

Laina went back into her house and googled this strange behaviour. She discovered that barn owls, although nocturnal, will search for food during the day if need be. There was no other information on the other behaviour but it was a story that she was gonna tell her for many years after.